One of the most requested items on a client's wish list . . . "We want a low maintenance landscape."

Almost everyone loves plants. I need to tell you that sizeable English-style gardens with lots of varieties of perennials are NOT low maintenance. To keep track of the slightly different maintenance needs of 50 different types of plants is anything but low maintenance.

If you are going for low maintenance, then minimize the planting! Modern Landscape Design uses dwarf varieties of shrubs, dwarf trees, and dwarf perennials that need less care than their counterparts. In Modern Landscaping, we plant 5-10 types of plants tops. The fewer varieties mean the fewer plants you will have to learn how to take care of.

I've had clients request low maintenance and then tell me they want no grass, just lots of planting beds. Remember that numerous planting beds equals more on your knees or crouched over weeding. We install shredded bark mulch on all our planting installations to cut down on weeding. Mulch reduces the amount of weeding by about 90%. Also, planting beds means cutting down herbaceous perennials or ornamental grasses to the ground before winter or spring, so try to minimize the number of gardens.

When researching the idea of a low-maintenance landscaping, be realistic and talk to us - we've been in landscaping since the 70s and have seen it all! Then, have us design and install a modern designed landscape.